F1 Review: Joseph Kosinski’s Otherwise Surface-Level Racing Sports Drama Boasts a Technically Proficient and Immersive Cinematic Experience

F1 marks the return of Joseph Kosinski, trading fighter jets seen in Top Gun: Maverick for Formula One cars in an attempt to give us the same visceral you-are-there feeling. Equipped with a hefty budget reportedly costing US$300 million to make, Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer go all out on committing the utmost realism possible.

So, if you are anticipating the racing scenes, this is where F1 truly excels. Cameras are strategically placed from the driver’s point of view to the body and tyres of the Formula One car (which is actually modified from a Formula Two car). The combination of dynamic camerawork, wide-angle shots and bird’s eye view is entirely covered to make you feel like you are part of the race.

The sound design is just as impeccable as Kosinski and his team successfully captured the burning rubber from the screeching tyres, the roaring engine and the impossibly fast, vacuum-like high-pitched noise as we see the Formula One cars zip around the bends and corners of the race track. The movie is also shot on various actual locations from the UK’s Silverstone Circuit to Italy’s Monza Circuit and Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit, with Claudio Miranda’s sharp cinematography deserving mention. No doubt that watching F1 on IMAX is one of the best ways to experience all the racing scenes to the fullest.

The movie wastes little time thrusting us right in the middle of action: The opening Daytona sequence, complete with Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and Hans Zimmer’s pulsating score in the background, heightens the entire stretch. Here, former Formula One driver Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) is doing his friend (Shea Whigham), the owner of a racing team, a favour by participating in the 24 Hours of Daytona. He’s more of a freelancer now, travelling and living in his van like a nomad and makes money from whoever wants the right guy to get behind the wheel for a race.

Soon, it doesn’t take long before his old friend and former Formula One teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) shows up, looking all dapper and with a first-class ticket to London. Ruben is now the owner of a struggling Formula One racing team, APXGP a.k.a. Apex, and he wants him to come out of his retirement to join his team.

Ehren Kruger’s screenplay treads on familiar ground with all the expected clichés typically found in this type of racing sports drama. Besides, a movie about an aging driver made a comeback for the last chance of glory is nothing new, which immediately reminds me of the Stallone-starred Driven back in 2001, even though that movie focused on CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) racing.

So, going back to the story, the initially reluctant Sonny accepts Ruben’s offer and shows up to help his team, including his talented young driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). The two hardly get along, with Joshua being an overly confident type who has to put up with an old-timer like Sonny. The latter may have been a little bit rusty at the beginning, driving a Formula One car equipped with state-of-the-art technology. The movie also focuses on Sonny and the Apex team’s technical director, Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon), as they are constantly arguing with each other. Of course, it’s hardly rocket science to see where this is going, given the underlying sexual tension between the two throughout the movie.

As much as I enjoy the racing scenes, the overall predictable storytelling could have used a few extra edges. I just can’t help but find the plot barely scratches the surface rather than taking the chance to delve deeper into, say, Sonny’s arc to make up for the lost dream that he failed to achieve during his younger days. Even the conflict between Sonny and Joshua is perfunctory. The movie clocks in at two hours and a half, which will be great if it was trimmed shorter to tighten up the screws.

Past its formulaic structure, you still get your money’s worth watching F1 for the racing scenes alone. And thankfully, there are plenty of them spreading throughout the movie’s otherwise bloated runtime to keep you occupied. The acting is decent at best, with Brad Pitt’s trademark swaggering charisma still looking good even at his sixty-something age. He does an okay job playing a world-weary character, even though there’s a nagging feeling he can do better. His co-stars Damson Idris, Javier Bardem and Kerry Condon do whatever they can in their respective roles.